Press for making spools from fibrous pulp.



PATENTED JAN. a, 1903.

B. HUBBARD. PRESS FOR MAKING SPOOLS PRO FIBROUS PULP.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 30, 1901. RENEWED JULY 9, 1902.

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N R i PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

E. HUBBARD. PRESS FOR MAKING SPOOLS FROM PIBROUS PULP.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30, 1901. RENEWED JULY 9, 1902.

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E. HUBBARD. PRESS FOR MAKING SPOOLS FROM FIBROUS PULP.

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UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

EBER HUBBARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN THREAD COMPANY, CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PRESS FOR MAKING SPOOLS FROM FIBROUS PULP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,857, dated January 6, 1903. Application filed August 30, l90l.' Renewed July 9, 1902. Serial No. 114,960. (No model.)

To all whom, it 'may concern.- Beit known thatLEBER HUBBARD, a citizen of the United States, residing'at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presses for Making Spools from Fibrous Pulp,of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompa' nying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved mechanism for molding of fibrous pulp large-sized spools or bobbins or bodies of more orless analogous form, the fea tures of the invention which adapt it to this specific purpose being those which overcome certain difficulties heretofore experienced, to Wit:

First. The cylindrical group of staves which are employed in machines of this general class for molding such bodies as pails and tubs have their edges lapped one within the other successively, and as the jacket which they constitute is closed up in compressing the pulp and the radius diminishes and circumferential curvature increases the lips of the staves lapping one within the other are necessarily sprung slightly from their original direction to the new direction made necessary by the reduced circumference to which they conform, and these lips have, therefore, been made sufficiently flexible to endure such change of form without deterioration. When, however, the body to be molded is of small diameter, as the barrel of a spool, the change of curvature incident to reduction in diameter necessary for properly compressing the spool-such reductionbeing as great for the spool as for the tub-requires 'more fiexure of the lips than can be made without permanently setting them in the moreconvex form, so that when the jacket o'pensthe lips permanently bent no longer close the joint and the mold leaks, and the pulp filling the crevieesprevents the lips from coming together, even when the mold is closed up, to the extent which caused the original bending of the lips.

Second. Bodies having at two portions of the length very greatly differing diameter and thickness of the fibrous mass to be drained in the molding process present difficulties in molding, by reason of the fact that the radial movement of the jacket being necessarily substantially the same at all parts of the length, the part at which the diameter is great est, and at which also the thickness to be produced is greatest receives relatively less compression than the portion of less diameter and as a result is less dense than the latter portion.

Third. In molding such a body as a spool having a relatively small central aperture and therefore small surface through which drainage can be effected inwardly it is found very diflicult to form from fibrous pulp so as to have the inner portion dense and compact, as it ought to be, because, as is well understood, the fiber is deposited most compactly and densely on the surfaces through which the Water drains most freely, and the result in an ordinary construction of a spool of fibrous pulp is that the center is spongy and porous and not calculated to endure the torsional strain to which the spool is exposed in winding.

My invention is designed to overcome these difficulties, and to that end consists inemploying for the jacket staves which lap one within the other and have guide stems or ribs extending from their outer lapped edges in direction substantially or approximately parallel with radial planes through their inner lapped edges and slide said edges on the inner surfaces of the adjacent staves, respectively, as the jacket is closed up without bending or springing the lips and in specific features of construction in respect to the staves and means for guiding and controlling their movement.

It consists, further, in the construction of the staves so that they are adapted to form the spool with its flaring heads and to maintain sufficiently close contact of their inner lapped edges with the edges of the adjacent staves and with the heads between which they extend While the staves move in the directions stated. t

It consists, further, in provision for endwise as Well as radial compression in order to make the flaring heads of the spools as dense as the slender barrel, such means involving interiorly conical or flaring heads on which ICO the ends of the staves seat and special formation of the interior surface of such heads to adapt them to maintain close contact with the flaring ends of the staves at all positions of the latter in the expansion and reduction of the jacket.

It consists, further, in the employment of a star-shaped drainage-tube at the center of the spool, multiplying the surface for interior drainage, and reducing the thickness of the body drained at any point,while maintaining the same general form of the spool.

It consists, further, in specific features of construction which are set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partly sectional top plan of my improved spool-press, section being made at the line 1 1 on Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the press. Fig. 3 is a partial side elevation of the same, showing the mechanism for communicating movement from the moving head to the stave-carrier. Fig. 4 is a detail section at the line 4: 4 on Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 on Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a detail plan of a portion of the staves forming the jacket, two of them being broken away and shown in perspective through the vertical portion. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of one of the staves having the wiregauze covering partly broken away. Fig. 8 is a plan of one of the drainage-plates for the end of the mold with the wire-gauze covering partly removed. Fig. 9 is a trans-axial section of the star-shaped core or central drainage element of the mold. Fig. 10 is an inverted flange of the cap or upper head-plate of the mold. Fig. 11 is a section at the line 11 11 on Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a section at 12 12 on Fig. 10. Fig. 13 is a section at 13 13 on Fig. 10.

A is the base of the frame.

B is the ram.

0 is the fixed head.

D D, 850., are strain rods or posts connecting the base and fixed head.

E is a movable head opposed to the fixed head and carried by the ram B.

F F, &c., are perforated and wire-clothcovered staves in a cylindrical group extending between the fixed and movable heads, constituting a jacket adapted, by structure hereinafter described, to be collapsed or reduced in diameter to compress the pulp to expel the water therefrom.

G is a drainage-core. It is star-shaped in cross-section, made of finely-perforated metal or woven-wire cloth, reinforced by a central tube G and rods G G2 in each star-point, leaving ample drainage between the perforated star-shaped shell and the said reinforces. The fixed head C comprises a removable cover 0, closing an opening large enough for the removal of the molded spool.

C O are buttons for securing the cover.

H is a drainage-plate in the cover C of the fixed head. Its lower surface is grooved, as shown at h h, and covered with fine-wire cloth, the grooves communicating at their ends with the annular groove 0 in the head, said groove in turn being drained through the duct 0. J is a similar drainage-plate in the movable head. It is similarly grooved and covered with wire-cloth, the grooves j draining into an annular groove 6 in the head E, which is drained by the duct 6. The drainage-plates H and J are apertured at the center to receive the axial star-shaped drainage-core, and in the under side of the plate J is a cavity in the head E, in which are springs J J, which have a frictional grasp on the core G, tending to hold it in the plate J when the plate H is lifted with the cover 0 to remove the spool, as hereinafter explained.

The heads 0 and E are made with wide flaring or conical cavities facing each other. More accurately, the cavities are cone frustum shaped, the drainage-plates forming the flat bottoms of the cavities in the heads, respectively,'the conical walls C It having, preferably, the same slope and that slope being preferably forty-five degrees.

The staves F F are flat-faced and lap-one edge inside and the opposite edge outside the adjacent staves, respectively, the inner lapped edge being beveled on the back at an angle the complement of the angle between the faces. They have guide ribs or stems F F, which project from the outer lapped edge or near that edge in direction parallel to a radial plane through the inner lapped edge. I do not limit myself to making the direction of these ribs exactly as stated, since some variation in this will not defeat the result aimed at; but the construction stated is theoretically the best, and departure from it tends to make the structure less compact. An advantage due to this mode of construction is that thereby the direction of the compression is radial to the surface of the finallypressed body at as many points as there are staves, and this is approximately radial-as nearly radial as possible-at all points of its completed surface, Whereas by the method generally heretofore employed of making the converging movement of the staves radial in planes through the outer-lapped edge-that is, in the plane of the guide-ribsthe direction of pressure is radial to the outer surface only of the unpressed liquid, which occupies the mold at its largest expansion, and the pressure becomes seriously oblique to the surface by the time the mold is so far closed up as to render the material comparatively dense and liable to distortion by such oblique pressure. It is obvious that the direction of pressure is of no consequence, while the material is substantiallyliquid and capable of flowing in any direction; but an oblique pressure upon a fiber packed so that it can no longer flow, but must be shaped by pressure, will tend todrag the fibers and defeat the knitting or compacting together of the material, which is necessary to the stubbornness of texture in the completed article and which will result from direct compression, involving the minimum displacement or rearrangement of the fibers. The ribs F are sloped at the ends corresponding to the slope of the walls of the conical cavities of the heads, and said walls are grooved to receive the sloped ends of the ribs, the grooves C E being parallel to radial planes through the inner lapped edges of the staves, which they respectively accommodate.

In view of the outward slope of the end portions of the ribs, made necessary by the shape of the spool-body to be formed, it is especially desirable that the direction of the. converging movement should be radial to the finished body rather than to the liquid which occupies the mold at the commencement of the action, because the inner lapped edges of the flaring ends of the ribs will be in the same radial planes as the inner lapped edges of the cylindrical portions, and thus the pressure operating along lines radial to those edges will not tend to produce any distortion as between the cylindrical portion and the larger head portion, whereas if any other line in the straight or cylindrical portion of the ribs-as, for example, the outer lapped edge-is chosen as the line through which the converging movement should be made radial the obliquity of the pressure toward the completion of the compressing movement would be very much greater at the cylindrical portion than at the flaring portion of the spool, and there would thus be in addition to the general tendency to disarrange the fibers toward the close of the pressing movement an especial tendency to disarrange the cylindrical portion with respect to the flaring end portion, and thus rupture the one from the other by torsional action. It is, furthermore, of advantage to close up the mold by movement in lines radial to the inner lapped edges when the body to be molded has a flaring end, such as a spool-head requiring the flaring ends on the staves, because by this movement the contact of the inner lapped edges at the flaring portions can be more perfectly maintained. i

From the outer edge of the rib of each stave, at about the middle of its width or height, a stem F projects through an annular element M, which is named the stave-carrier, and for each stave a spring 'm is provided, reacting between the stave and the said carrier, tending to draw the stave outward and resisting yieldingly the inward or converging movement.

It will be understood that when the movable head is forced upward by the ram the slope of the concave outer portion of said movable head tends to cause the staves seated and guided in that slope to move inward. To the extent that the staves can move upward, however, the inward or converging movement would be diminished if it were not for the fact that the upper inverted conical fixed head stops the upper ends of the staves, and their upward movement can only be such as permitted by that head and must therefore be inward an amount determined by the slope of said fixed head. The slope of the two heads being equal, the upward movement of the staves equals half the upward movement of the moving headthat is, half the entire approach of the two heads. The staves in such movement would carry the annular carrier M up with them, and the carrier would tend to keep the movement of all the staves equal if the friction of the two ends of the staves in the two heads and the resistance of the pulp on their faces at all parts of their length were at all times equal; but since such equality cannot be expected it might be expected that if no other provision were made the staves, or some of them, might become tipped or distorted in position. To insure the proper and uniform movement of the staves as the movable lowerhead approaches the upper fixed head, I provide means for positively lifting the carrier M, and thereby lifting all the staves simultaneously and equally at the speed necessary to keep the staves erect and seated at both ends in the heads as the heads approach. When the angle of slope of the conical walls of the two heads is the same, the speed of lifting movement of the carrier is, as above indicated, half that of themoving head; but, more generally stated, the speed of movement of the carrier is to that of the head as the cosine of the angle of slope of the fixed head is to the sum of the cosines of the angles of slope of the fixed and moving heads, meaning by thefangle of slope the acute angle which the sloping wall makes with a vertical line.

The means employed for giving the carrier M the proper movement consist of levers N,

preferably three or four, four being shown, fulcrumed on any convenient form of fixed support, as collars P, secured to the strainrods D, respectively. The levers have each a lon er arm N and a shorter arm N the longer arms being operated on by the upper ends of the arms E E &c., which are bolted onto the outside of the annular apron E which is secured to the moving head E, and the shorter arm being situated so as to act on the under side of the flange M of the carrier M. The under edge of the lever-arm N is fying the relative lengths of the lever-arms and the shape at N to produce any necessary ratio between said movement-s, and the ratio of two to one herein shown is theproper one only when the two heads have the same angle of slope. v

The flaring ends of the spool-body to be formed in the jacket, consisting of the staves.

which are thus closed up, necessitate making each stave with a wing F at each end, whose face is inclined outward from the face of the middle part of the stave. These wings must have one edge of each lapped on the inner face of the wing of the adjacent stave at one side, and such edge must continue to lap thus and remain in contact during the expansion and reduction of the jacket, and at the same time the end edges of these wings should seat closely on the conical surfaces of the cavity of the heads, respectively.

Since the construction described causes each stave to extend tangentially off from the cavity inclosed by the jacket, it will be seen that the floating heads require special modification from fixed conical form, consisting in grooves or paths for the ends of the tangentially-projecting staves, and that such grooves, as seen at 0 0 0 &c., will longitudinally extend in planes corresponding to the not strictly radial movement of the staves and transversely will be in the form of serrations or triangular grooves, one face being abrupt and the other sloping, and that they will deepen as they extend outward to accommodate the increasing protrusion of the end of the tangentially-extending stave.

The pulp is supplied through an opening d in the fixed head 0, such opening being closed by a slide-gate D whose inner surface when it is closed constitutes part of the wall of the conical cavity of said head.

When the spool is fully molded and compressed, the ram is lowered, carrying down the movable head, the springs m retract the staves as fast as the separation of the fixed and movable heads permits, and the spool is left standing on the drainage-plate of the lower or movable head, the core G being withdrawn from the drainage-plate of the upper head by reason of the frictional grasp of the springs provided in the movable head for that purpose, and the spool and core being lifted out the latter may be withdrawn from the former, leaving the spool ready for the subsequent process of drying and finishing.

I claim 1. A press for making spools from fibrous pulp,comprising two interiorly-conical heads, arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other, and means for causing them to approach; a cylindrical group of staves, having each a lip overlapping the adjacent edge of the next stave, said staves having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively; the heads having guideways to engage the ends of the staves, to control the latter in converging movement; and means for yieldingly restraining the staves against converging movement to keep them engaged with the heads during the approaching movement of the latter.

2. A press for making spools from fibrous pulp,comprising two interiorly-conical heads, arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other, and means for caus ing them to approach; a cylindricalv group of staves, having each a lip at one side overlapping the adjacent edge of the next stave; said staves having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively; means for guiding the staves in radial converging movement, and means for yieldingly restraining the staves against such converging movement to keep them engaged with the heads at their sloping ends respectively, and a star-shaped screen, with perforated walls, extending axially through the heads and through the cavity defined by said heads and staves.

3. A press for making spools from fibrous pulp,comprising two interiorly-conical heads, arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves, having each a lip at one side overlapping the adjacent edge of the next stave; said staves having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively; means for guiding the staves in converging movement, one of the heads being fixed and the other movable toward and from the fixed head; and means for giving the staves longitudinal movement in the same direction as said movable head, simultaneously therewith a distance corresponding to the vertical component of the angle of slope of the conical surface of the fixed head.

4. A press for making spools of fibrous pulp, comprising two interiorly-conical heads, having the same slope and arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves, having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively; means for guiding the staves in converging movement, one of the heads being fixed and the other movable toward and from the first,and means for giving the staves longitudinal movement in the same direction as the movable head, simultaneously therewith, and at half the speed of the movement of said head.

5. A press for making spools of fibrous pulp, comprising two interiorly-conical heads, arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves having their ends sloped to correspond to the conical cavities of the head, and lodged thereon; one of the heads being fixed and the other being movable toward and from the fixed head; and means by which the movable head gives to the staves longitudinal movement in the same direction, simultaneous with the movement of said head, a distance corresponding to the vertical component of the angle of slope of the fixed head.

6. A press for making spools of fibrous pulp, comprising two heads interiorly conical, arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves, having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively and lodged thereon; one of the heads being fixed and the other movable toward and from the fixed head, and means by which the movable head gives to the staves a longitudinal movement in the same direction, simultaneously with themovement of said head, at a speed Whose ratio to that of the moving head equals the ratio of the cosine of the angle of the slope of the fixed head to the sum of the cosines of the angles of slope of the two heads.

7. A press for making spools from fibrous pulp, comprising two interiorly-conical heads arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves having their ends sloped to corre spond with the conieal cavities of the heads and lodged thereon respectively; means for guiding the staves in radial converging movement; one of the heads being fixed and the other movable toward and from the fixed head; an exterior support for all the slaves; means for guiding said support in longitudinal movement parallel to that of the moving head; means connected with the moving head for giving longitudinal movementto said exterior stave-support at a speed whose ratio to that of the moving head equals the ratio of the cosine of the angle of the slope of the fixed head to the sum of the cosines of the angles of slope of the two heads.

8. A press for making spools of fibrous pulp, comprising two interiorly-conical heads arranged conaxially with their conical cavities facing each other; a cylindrical group of staves having their ends sloped to correspond with the conical cavities of the heads respectively, and lodged thereon; one of said heads being fixed and the other being movable toward and from the fixed head; an annular frame outside the group of staves, having converging guide-bearings for the staves, and adapted to carry the latter longitudinally; and lever mechanism fulcrumed on a supporting-frame, operated by the movement of the movable head and acting upon said stavesupporting frame to give to the latter, and thereby to the staves, longitudinal movement Whose extent and speed bear to the extent and speed of the moving head the ratio of the cosine of the angle of slope of thefixed head to the sum of said cosine and that of the angle of slope of the moving head.

9. A press for molding bodies from fibrous pulp, comprising opposed heads and a cylindrical group of staves extending between the heads, the staves having their opposite lateral edges lapped respectively inside and outside the adjacent staves respectively, and having stems by which they are guided in converging movement, said stems projecting from the outside lapped edges, and guides for the stems parallel with radial planes through the inside lapped edges respectively.

10. A press for molding bodies from fibrous pulp, comprising opposed heads and a cylindrical group of staves extending between the heads, the staves having theiropposite lateral edges lapped respectively inside and outside the adjacent stavesrespectively; stems by which the staves are guided in converging movem ent extending from the outside lapped edges in directions parallel to radial planes through the inside lapped edges respectively.

11. A press for molding spools and like forms of fibrous pulp, comprising opposed heads and a cylindrical group of staves extending between the heads,havingoutwardlyflared wings adapted to define a cavity tapering widening toward the head, said staves having their opposite edges lapped respectively outside and inside the adjacent staves respectively, and provided with stems extending from the outside lapped edges in direction parallel with the radial planes through the inside lapped edges respectively, the inside lapped edges of the wings being oblique to such radial planes.

12. A press for molding bodies from fibrous pulp, comprising opposed heads and a cylindrical group of staves extending between the heads,said staves having their opposite lateral edges lapped respectively outside and inside the adjacent staves respectively, and their inner faces in planes tangent to the surface of the cylinder in which their inner lapped edges lie, and having guide stems or ribs projecting parallel to radial planes through said inner lapped edges respectively.

13. A press for molding from fibrous pulp spools and bodies of like form having substantially cylindrical portions and end portions tapered widening from the cylindrical portion, such press comprising opposed heads and a cylindrical group of staves extending between the heads, such staves having their opposite lateral edges lapped respectively inside and outside the adjacent staves respectively, having the inner faces, which correspond to the cylindrical portion of the body to be molded, in planes tangent to the cylindrical surface in which their inner lapped edges lie, and having at their ends flaring wings whose inner lapped edges are slightly oblique to said radial planes, to cause them to coincide with the inner faces of the adjacent fiaring wings when the staves stand at some determined distance fromv the center.

14. A press for molding from fibrous pulp bodies having flaring end portions, such press comprising opposite heads having substantially conical cavities facing each other; staves lapped one within another, forming a reducible jacket extending from head to head, and having flaring end portions; means for causing the heads to approach each other, and means for guiding the staves in converging movement as the heads approach, to reduce the jacket; the flared ends of the staves being seated on the walls of the conical cavities of the heads respectively, and said walls being serrated or channeled in the path of the movement of the staves, to accommodate the ends of the latter, the channels deepening my hand, at Chicago, Illinois, this 16th day as they diverge, at the sides corresponding of August, A. D. 1901.

to the outer lapped edge of the stems Whereby the moldcavity is kept closed at the ends EBER HUBBARD 5 of the staves throughout the reducing movement.

In presence of- CHAS. S. BURTON,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set ADNA H. BOWEN, Jr. 

